Nick Barker

It’s been hard 24h for Georgians. Grave mistakes were made. Yesterday, Georgia lost a battle against Russian takeover - but the fight for freedom &democracy continues. If there’s one thing yst proved, it’s that resistance hasnt disappeared. They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds. 1/12

"staff are being called back from redundancy".

The End Times of Academia "It was the non-existent future that I was working toward that was the problem."

Love this: "Do not submit to anyone, including the plagiarized digital detritus called “AI.” Read and think on your own terms with your own words. Do not take your ability to do so for granted." sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/the-end-ti...

Finding inspiration from the brilliant @sarahkendzior.bsky.social: "If you are a student, a professor, or a self-taught intellectual — fight. Fight by refusing to abandon your humanity, your originality, and your will to explore."

UNITED24 - The initiative of the President of Ukraine UNITED24 was launched by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the main venue for collecting charitable donations in support of Ukraine. Funds will be transferred to the official accounts of...

There has never been a better time to support Ukraine. Donate now u24.gov.ua

UNITED24 - The initiative of the President of Ukraine UNITED24 was launched by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the main venue for collecting charitable donations in support of Ukraine. Funds will be transferred to the official accounts of...

Public Service Announcement: if what's happening in Alaska makes you sick, a donation to Ukraine would improve your health

free article: https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/soul-stripping

sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/soul-strip...

Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.

Why Clarity Feels Dangerous (Especially If You’re an Academic) The Hardest Work in Writing Is Saying What You Really Mean

George Orwell warned: bad writing leads to bad thinking.

Academia trains us to write for journals, not the public.
Clarity feels risky, because it exposes us.

But clear communication is essential for democracy.
So how do we do it?

🧵

New post 👉 catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/why-clarit...

It’s true that my fellow students are embracing AI – but this is what the critics aren’t seeing | Elsie McDowell Those turning to ChatGPT aren’t lazy. My generation has found itself stranded in a rapidly changing and, since Covid, badly mishandled education system, says student Elsie McDowell

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Year Four of Civil War Paths: Taking Stock - Civil War Paths Professor Anastasia Shesterinina is Chair in Comparative Politics at the University of York. She currently holds a £1.2m UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship and direct the Centre for ...

Newly published on the @civilwarpaths.bsky.social blog, @ashesterinina.bsky.social shares updates from the past year, including exciting insights from recent events, new publications from the team, and the range of contributions from our Fellows. Read more 👇

I guess that posts with war interest people more.

But I am determined to show you that Ukraine is more than the war:
rich history, art, culture and fantastic nature.

Porcelain Blossom. Opishnia, Poltava Oblast

There is only one warmonger on the European stage: Vladimir Putin | Letter Letter: Experts on Russia, Ukraine and international security respond to a letter that criticised Fiona Hill for her assessment of the Russian threat to Britain

On 13 June, @theguardian.com published a collective letter concerning Russia’s war & attacking Dr #FionaHill, the chancellor of Durham University & one of the principal authors of the UK’s strategic defence review. As UK-based or British-educated experts in matters pertaining to Russia, we disagree.

Very glad to see a number of good friends and colleagues signing the letter in support of Dr Hill

Revealed: Thousands of UK university students caught cheating using AI Guardian investigation finds almost 7,000 proven cases of cheating – and experts says these are tip of the iceberg

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Might be relevant: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Anyone who uses Chat GPT is insane

The case for universities Institutions everywhere are in crisis, but they will survive

www.ft.com/content/1517...

State-building and the recognition of a right to statehood: international involvement in post-1999 Kosovo Informed by a novel conceptualization of the recognition of a right to statehood and its relation to state-building, this study explores under what conditions international organizations contribute...

Delighted to share my new article. I explore the relationship between state recognition & state-building through a study of #UN & #EU involvement in #Kosovo to better grasp how states are built/recognised in conflict-affected areas.

Free to access!

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #conflictsky

Russia seizing thousands of homes in occupied Mariupol - BBC News To save their homes, Ukrainians face a dangerous return through Russia, and pressure to take a Russian passport.

Russian authorities are systematically seizing thousands of homes from Ukrainian residents of Mariupol.

BBC Verify has analysed dozens of official documents published since July 2024 that show at least 5,700 homes have been identified for seizure. www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...

🚨New ep. out now! "Can you say that?"🎙️ @adamjamesquinn.bsky.social chats to @verenakbrandle.bsky.social about #socialmedia and politics: what kind of moderation do democratic societies want, and why do we seem to be getting further away from an ideal that satisfies anyone?

👇Audio links in thread👇

Read Harvard’s Response to the Trump Administration Harvard University’s lawyers responded on Monday to the Trump Administration’s letter demanding a series of policy changes, saying the demands were unlawful and that Harvard would not comply.

@harvard.edu fights back
Time for
1. Coordinated statement by all US top universities spelling out red lines of academic freedom.
2. Message of support for all threatened US universities from all world's leading universities.
@ox.ac.uk @stanforduniversity.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

My sister died 10 years ago. Here’s what I wish I had known about dementia when she was alive | Jackie Bailey I think back to my 20-year-old self and my sister, lost in her imagined worlds, and I feel compassion for us both

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

State Terror A brief guide for Americans

"the president defied a Supreme Court ruling to return a man mistakenly sent to a gulag... and spoke of sending Americans to foreign concentration camps.
This is the beginning of an American policy of state terror, and it has to be identified as such to be stopped"
snyder.substack.com/p/state-terror

Thanks!

States, Secessionists and De Facto Control after Separatist Wars: Strategies for Controlling Territories and Populations after Conflict This book investigates how states and secessionists seek to resolve questions of de facto control in the aftermath of secessionist wars. This work presents a study of the termination and aftermath of ...

Very strange feeling to see this almost published - I'll do some proper social media promotion when I have the time www.routledge.com/States-Seces...

🧵Censor, purge, defund - how Trump is following the authoritarian playbook on science & universities.

This isn't chaos - it's deliberate & well-established methods.

I've mapped 40 actions into 3 categories covering attacks on science, attacks on universities and international collaboration.

1/16

Worth stating simply what’s happening. An American government is launching a full-scope political & economic assault on an ally repelling an ongoing invasion to compel them to terminate martial law, topple their president, hand over minerals to America & accept a ceasefire w/out security guarantees.

Gaza war toll likely significantly undercounts deaths, says study An official Palestinian tally of direct deaths in the Israel-Hamas war likely undercounted the number of casualties by 41% through the middle of 2024 as the Gaza Strip's healthcare infrastructure unravelled, according to the study.

A peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet estimates more than 64,000 deaths in Gaza due to traumatic injury between Oct. 7, 2023 and June 30, 2024 — a figure 41% higher than the Gaza Health Ministry’s official count. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Pleased to say we have a call from @britishacademy.bsky.social offering up to £150k for researchers to work with peers around the world to strengthen evidence informed policymaking in different contexts. Deadline 19th Feb.
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/evid...